Childhood adversity linked to chronic disease later in life
Childhood adversity was associated with 30% higher relative risk of heart and blood vessel disease in 7,184 Chinese adults aged 45 and older.
Our read
Populations- Studied:
- Cohort study of 7,184 middle-aged and older Chinese adults, median 84 months (Dose-response)
- What changed:
- Heart and blood vessel disease risk was 30% higher with childhood adversity; the comparison group was unspecified
- The catch:
- The reported risk increases lack a specified comparison group
- In the record:
- The 232nd paper on adverse childhood experiences with results in people; 331 on record in all. Its result on cardiovascular disease agrees with all 7 other findings on record.
- Why it’s aging research:
- It measures an outcome that worsens with age.
Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
Chinese adults aged 45 and older—7,184 people without heart and blood vessel, kidney or liver disease at enrollment—were followed in an observational cohort from 2011 to 2018. Median follow-up lasted 84 months.
Adverse childhood experiences were associated with relative risk increases of 30% for heart and blood vessel disease, 37% for chronic kidney disease, 35% for chronic liver disease and 46% for multiple conditions across these disease groups. Risks rose across categories of childhood adversity. Depressive symptoms were a potential link between childhood adversity and later disease. A separate Mendelian randomization analysis, which used genetic differences, linked inherited susceptibility to depression with selected heart and blood vessel outcomes.
Why it matters
For chronic diseases in middle and older age, the findings support exploring care strategies that consider both childhood adversity and depressive symptoms.
Caveats
Other life circumstances may have contributed to the links between childhood adversity, depressive symptoms and later disease. The abstract did not specify the comparison group for the reported relative risk increases.
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